Discovering Pain
by rosie302
Summary: It was just meant to be a simple mission, kind of. There where loads of possible things that could go wrong. A terrorist group had been hacking into government servers using a piece of software they designed. Scorpion's task was simple, stop them, but sometimes that's easier said then done. (I wrote this ages ago so it's not the best, sorry in advance!)
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer- I do not own Scorpion, unfortunately._

"Hey, Walt! It's Cabe. We've got another one." Toby yelled up the stairs before walking away. Things had been getting boring, they hadn't had a mission in over a week and without the rocket to work on or Megan's project, Walter had been starting to get impatient. As soon as Walter reached the bottom step Cabe walked in and headed over to the screens, it wasn't long before the whole team had gathered.

"Oh this is bad." Toby started staring at Cabe worriedly. "Just look at his posture and clothes. This must be really serious."

"You're right, we have another terrorist plot to deal with." Cabe said grimly, "a group of terrorists who have named themselves 'Kira', have developed a software that has been hacking government computers for the last few hours. They've been downloading top secret information, planting bugs in our computers and who knows what else. We can't do anything about it," before he could say anything else Walter had walked over to a computer and started hacking in to find the problem.

"You're right, this is bad. This program is even more advanced than the one we encountered with the supercomputer. I don't think they are using a supercomputer though, but they might as well be. Each time I try to remove it and fix the problem it slips out of my grasp. It is impossible to get from here. Had you contacted us soon we might have stood a chance but with the access it has, it sees us coming from a mile away. It's like playing cat and mouse, well except with a clairvoyant mouse." Walter said without looking up, clicking away on his keyboard.

"So can you do something about it?"

"Maybe," Walter said. He looked up "Do you have any idea where they are? I have a thought but you are not going to like it."

"We have a few ideas but they would see us coming so we wouldn't be able to go in and stop them with force. We would have to narrow it down because if we need to go in, we will only have one shot. What's your idea son?" Cabe said starting to look hopeful.

"If I place a firewall around the already infected servers and the servers that are about to be infected, a firewall that I design, then we could trap it inside so it can't spread. However, this may be more risky as once it gets through the wall, which it will, it will know how to protect itself in future. We can't shut it down from the outside so I will have to place the firewall then we have approximately..." Walter said typing again so Sylvester took over

"3 hours and 21 minutes to find them and shut it down before they get through. If we can work out where they are, and if you can place the firewall, then there is only a 47.6% likely hood that we will succeed. I don't like this Walter." Sylvester said his breathing increasing.

"We have faced worse odds. Okay, plant that firewall and we can get to work." Cabe said then turned to the rest of the team and started handing out folders with information regarding the mission.

"Okay, so considering the equipment they need to do this, it can't be these first three." Happy said gesturing to the first three.

"No, you're right. And they are hiding from the Government, usually criminals would go for out of the way places so it can't be these either." Toby said narrowing the choices down to three.

"Well, if they need good computers to do this then they would have spent all their money on it so they can't be in a very expensive place. More likely to be run down." Paige said trying to help.

"That narrows it down to the warehouse." Toby said showing Cabe.

"Okay, that's good, that's good. Now we are making progress. How are you doing Walter?" Cave asked turning back to Walter.

"Almost there... okay, the firewall is in place. Coms in and lets go. We can think of a plan on the way." Walter said quickly grabbing his things and heading out to the van with everyone following behind. The ride was too quick for everyone's liking but they managed to get a plan in place.

"Okay, so one last time." Cabe said trying to clarify things from the front.

"We need to get in undetected. Most likely there will be a lot of them so we need to cause some kind of distraction. Happy and Toby will do that from the north, Paige and Sylvester from the south. They will split up leaving only a few inside. Cabe, you and me will go in. You will sort out the remaining guys while I hack their computer. We will get out as soon as possible and leave. Then we can call for backup to arrest everyone." Walter briefly clarified. The distraction was the easy bit. It was the getting in and out that everyone was worried about.

"Walter, I estimate a 19.4% chance that we will all get out of this unharmed, only a 11% chance that we will succeed. And only a 7% chance that we will both succeed and all get out of here. I do not like those odds!" Sylvester said starting to sweat.

"We will be fine. Now, come on, we don't have much time." Cabe said before getting out the car. Paige gave Sylvester's arm a comforting squeeze then got out of the car. Everyone left in the directions they would be starting from and 10 minutes later everyone was in place.

"We only have an hour left." Sylvester said over the coms jarring everyone into action. The moment the people starting leaving Walter and Cabe headed to the building careful to stay out of sight. Toby's assessment had been right, only three people from what they could see where left inside. Cabe quickly dealt with them and Walter found the computer.

"This is far more complex than I imagined it being." Walter said as he typed away at the computer.

"Hurry up, we have to leave. They are firing at us. If you don't get that done now then we're dead." Happy yelled over the coms.

"I'm trying, I'm trying." Walter typed away at the computer but he knew he would never be able fix the problem in the time he had. There was only one thing for it. Very quickly, Walter secured the firewall he had put in place making it impossible for the software to break then proceeded to try and get rid of the virus. "Almost there, almost..."

The door flung open. Walter heard Cabe yelling and shooting but he was so close. He couldn't stop now. Then everything went black.

-line break-

"Walter! Walter!"

Slowly Walter opened his eyes. Quickly, he took in his surroundings. He was in a grey, concrete room with no windows, there was a single bulb above the door on the wall opposite him to the left. He tried to walk towards it but it was only then that he realised his position. Chains hung from the ceiling suspending him from it by his wrists so his feet hung about an inch off the floor. Not that he could have done anything even without the chains around his wrists because cold silver shackles adjourned his ankles as well connecting him to the floor. He didn't have much time to ponder this before he heard his name again in one of his ears.

"Walter!" It was Paige. Whoever had captured him had forgotten to remove his earpiece.

"Paige?" He asked but winced at the sound of his own voice. It was only then he noticed he had a headache. Typical.

"Oh, thank god. You're alive." She said sounding close to tears.

"Is Cabe there? What happened?" Walter asked quickly. He needed to know that everyone else was safe.

"I'm here. You're the only one who is missing. Happy and Toby had picked up Paige and Sylvester then came for us. The terrorists found us. I called for you to leave the computer and follow me but I couldn't check to see if you were. It was only when I got to the van that I realised you weren't with me. By then it was too late. Where are you? Did you escape? Are you alright son?" Cabe asked sounding concerned.

"I have a headache, probably caused from a blow to the head. I just woke up. I am suspended by my wrists from the ceiling and it looks like I am in a basement of some kind. They caught me." Walter said offhandedly as if he were talking about Sunday lunch. "I didn't have time to destroy the virus completely. If I could escape and get back to the computer it would only take a few seconds to destroy. As a precaution I secured the firewall. They can't fix the damage I have done and the virus can't affect anymore servers but unless I get out of here and get to the computer there will be the risk of the virus still doing damage."

"Walter, you did a good job but your life is more important. Now, look around. Can you see anything that will help us find you? From what I saw of the place, there wasn't a basement. Do you remember anything." Cabe said sounding panicked but with a false calm.

"No, no I don't." Walter said then paused. "I don't want you risking your lives for me. That is illogical; you will only get yourself killed. Don't worry about me. Leave and go back to base. Go back to base and if you insist on finding me, come up with a proper plan. There is no time limit this time. The wall I put up can only be taken down by me and there is no way I'm doing that."

"No! WALTER!" Paige cried but Walter interrupted her.

"It is your best bet. I will not tell them anything. Even if..." Walter said trying to sound logical.

"You have not been trained to withstand it Walt! You won't last. If it were me then yes, but you have never been in a situation like this. We are coming to get you out!" Cabe said sounding angry but defeated.

"No, go back to the garage. Come up with a plan then get me out. I can do this. I'm no stranger to pain." Walter said stoically.

"Walt, you do realise we are talking about torture here. Even if you can withstand the physical pain, it isn't a question of if you will break but when. There will be no going back to how you were before. You know the impacts torture can have on the mind. Even a mind like yours." Toby said pleadingly but Walter knew he had won. Each of his teammates work through logic and calculations, well except Paige and Cabe, and they all knew that it was more logical to leave and come back.

"Happy, Sylvester, do you have anything to say about this?" Walter asked wanting to hear from everyone. Even though he was told everyone was fine, he still needed to hear it for himself.

"I don't like it Walter. We'll come back for you. We will get you out. When they come, don't talk to us. You don't want them to know about the earpiece but we will be here with you every step of the way." Happy said. The caring tone in her voice sounded unnatural but Walter knew it was to be expected. This was by far the worst anything had come down to.

"Sylvester?" Walter asked needing to hear him.

"There is a 3% chance you will come out of this completely sane Walter. But if we come in to get you now there is only 4% chance we will get you out. We are willing to risk it Walter. We have faced worse odds. We can't lose you. I... we have already lost Megan. I can't lose my brother too. Please?" Sylvester pleaded sounding close to tears.

"No, leave." Walter said with a finality no one could argue with. He wasn't just their friend, he was there boss, their commander, who had just given, quite possibly, his last order. Now knowing everyone was safe, Walter looked around again assessing everything. Now he was no longer worrying about his friends he felt more pain than just what was in his head. Looking up at the manacles he saw them cutting into his wrist. All is weight was being supported by his wrists and the manacles were digging in painfully. Any movement from Walter would cause the skin to break. Knowing this Walter kept himself as still as possible. Walter also noticed something he hadn't noticed before. On the wall to his right was a long desk stretching the length of the wall. Various tools of all sorts decorated the table and immediately Walter knew what they were for. Before he could stop himself he sucked in a breath and felt himself go slightly cold. He wasn't afraid. Fear was illogical. He was just... shocked.

"That didn't sound good. What are you seeing Walt?" Toby asked concerned. More concerned than Walter had ever heard him. His voice even sounded slightly shaky.

"There is a desk to my right. You don't want to know what is on it." Walter said. He knew if he went into detail he might not be able to stop his team turning around and getting him. Walter heard intakes of breath and Paige said something but Walter blocked it out. Looking to his left he noticed something new again. A chair, with metal electronic cuffs to hold him at the wrists and ankles. Where the terrorist had found the money to get such a thing, Walter did not know but he knew one thing for sure. These people were professionals.

"Don't turn back guys. I mean it. What ever you hear... ignore it. There is nothing you can do." Walter said before looking at the door. Almost counting the seconds until they came. He knew what was about to happen. He heard a sob from over the coms but chose to ignore it. He knew it was Paige but if he thought about it too much it would break him far more than the torture would. Walter shut his eyes and concentrated on locking everything inside his mind away. What ever emotions he did have were locked away, they would only provide weakness. The one thing that wouldn't go away was the cold and the feeling of dread in his stomach, instead he just chose to ignore it. Suddenly he heard footsteps, his whole body tensed but he remained stoic as ever. The door swung open and in came the looming form of a person. Walter blinked a few times but eventually he managed to make out what the guy looked like. He was big but seeing as Walter wasn't touching the ground he couldn't gauge an accurate size. The guy was bald and had a scar going across from his right eye to his left side jaw. Walter remained silent as he regarded the man who shut the door and without looking at Walter walked over to the table, picking up a knife. Walters body, if possible went even more rigid but his facial expression didn't change.

"Hello, my name is Walter. I highly doubt you have the mental capacity to speak because it looks like you have not evolved that far but if you can, what is your name? I like to think a lot and it would be nice to call you something other than 'the man'." Walter said deciding to go for cocky. He just wanted it to start. The sooner it starts the sooner it would be over.

"What are you doing Walter! Don't antagonist him." Cabe said in his ear sounding close to panic.

"You can call me Master, I know your type. You don't break easily, but you always have so much pride that the first step should always be removing it. I am your master and you will address me as such. If you don't, well lets just say that I will go harder on you until you get it right." The guy said with a deep baritone voice with an evil smile. He walked over to Walter and his smile never wavered. "I am going to make you regret what you said boy; and I'm going to enjoy it." The man walked in front of Walter and brought his knife to the top of his shirt. He dragged it down lightly cutting the fabric and pushing hard enough for Walter to feel the cold of the knife but not enough to cut him. The man walked around Walter cutting off his clothes until all he was wearing were his boxer shorts, shoes, and socks. The man walked back to the table and deposited the knife, instead replacing it with a whip. A shiver went down Walter's spine but he wasn't going to give the man any satisfaction.

"I guess that people with such low intelligence don't need names. They won't get anywhere in life." Walter said. He didn't even know why he said it. He just needed to say something.

"You will call me Master." The man said walking behind Walter out of his eyesight. Walter knew what was coming and clenched his mouth shut. He wasn't going to scream. He heard the whip before he felt it. He heard the mini sonic boom the whip caused when the end broke the speed barrier before it hit his back. The whip cut through his skin down his back and Walter knew it had drawn blood. Walter let out a grunt but otherwise remained silent. He blocked out his friends voices on the other side of the line and just concentrated on controlling the pain, the agony that spread across his back. He heard the whip in the air again just before it connected with the tender skin covering his back. Once again, Walter let out a grunt, slightly louder this time and his face scrunched up in pain. Already he felt a few tears escape his eyes and tumble down his cheeks as he tried to hold back the screams he didn't want his friends to hear. Screaming was illogical. Screaming is a reflex in the body, much like crying, to alert others to your distress in order to get you help. But Walter knew that no help was coming. There was no point in screaming because there was no one in the area who could hear and help him. Screaming and crying was illogical and... The whip hit its mark again, cutting into his back. Walter cried out in pain. After the initial shock he managed to clamp his jaw shut again. He tried to relax his body knowing it would only hurt more if he were tense. The whip hit his back again and once more he cried out. The time between each hit seemed to get shorter and Walter didn't have enough time to recover. The whip whooshed though the air each time hitting Walters exposed back and each time Walter cried out in pain. He couldn't hold it back. He knew he couldn't hold back his cries of pain for long but he would not give into his torturer. He would remain vigilant. The whip hit his back for the twentieth time. Walter cried out in pain, it was getting close to a scream, and his head drooped to rest on his chest. He had to save his strength.

"I think it is time to kick it up a few notches. Don't worry, we will come back to the whip. It is my favourite." The man walked away from Walter and went back to the table. He put down his whip and instead picked up a rod with metal tips, a grip at the end that connected to a long lead and to the mains. He also carried a dial attached to it in the same hand. Walter could only just see this but didn't have to strain to look because a moment later the man came up in front of him, grabbed a fist full of Walters curly hair with his free hand and used that to lift Walter's head up so he could see clearly. "Do you know what this is?" The man said with a raised eyebrow showing off the metal rod

"That..." Walter started but his voice came out scratchy and broke. "That is a picana... It is used predominately for human torture. It is either attached to a car battery or through a transformer to the mains. This means that you can have many times as much voltage and pain for less current and therefore have it on a lower amplitude reducing the risk of death, it is also connected to a rheostat so you can adjust how much pain it gives." Walter stated his voice only shaking and going slightly higher at the start. Walter heard his friends talking to him but he ignored them. He had to focus on what was right in front of him.

"Very good. You know, they key to torturing people like you is to never stop. Alternate how much pain you give to let the victim recover from the intense pain while still suffering only to bring back the agony. This isn't going to stop Walter until you give me what you want. At the moment it is just that you call me master. I'm sure you can guess what I will want later. What do you say to that boy?" The man sneered getting closer and closer to Walter until they were only inches apart.

"Well, you want a challenge. I'm not giving in anytime soon so you might as well either get on with what you were doing or leave." Walter said with a blank emotionless face right up until the end when he gave a small smile. It was hard and Walter didn't know why he did it. As soon as the man saw the small smile his fist connected with Walters face dislocating his nose and cutting his face. Blood gushed from his nose and he let out a gasp.

"You will learn your manners boy." The man said lifting the hand that had just let go of Walters hair to punch him to Walter face and clicked his nose back into position. Once again Walter gasped from the pain but otherwise remained silent. The man then turned around and grabbed a bucket of water from the side of the room by the bench, putting down the picana, and walked back over to Walter. Before he could even react the man had chucked half the bucket of water at him drenching Walters front. The man wasted no time walking behind Walter to repeat the process to his back. Once Walter was completely soaked the man walked back to the table, put down the bucket and continued to pick up the picana again. The now wet Walter, for the first time, felt actual fear run through him. Everyone knew water and electricity doesn't mix, he knew that is would increase the pain so much more than if he were dry. He didn't let his face display his fear but he felt his heart rate speed up as the man neared. He felt the cold dread settle in even more. He felt his skin go even colder and a shiver ran slowly down his spine. Walter didn't even realise he was shaking slightly until the man turned on the picana and moved in so it hovered just above the skin and water covering Walters stomach. The man looked at Walter and grinned. Walter could keep the fear off his face but he knew his eyes had betrayed him. Walter only had time to notice the mans yellow teeth grinning evilly at him before the metal touched Walter's body.

"Aghhhhhh!" Walter screamed. He couldn't help himself. The pain was agony. All Walter could think about was the pain. His body convulsed as Walter lost control and he struggled against the restraints holding him in place. The metal surrounding his wrists and ankles broke through the skin but Walter did not care. The pain from that was so minuscule compared to that of the Picana that it did not even register in Walters mind. Seconds stretched into minutes, hours, days, although Walter would chastise himself at that thought later. It couldn't have lasted days, but at that moment the logic part of Walter's mind wasn't working. Pain was overriding all thoughts and feelings. There was only pain. After what felt like years the pain finally receded leaving Walter crying, panting for breath, and shaking all over. He didn't know what way was up or what way was down, only that the pain had stopped for now. After a minute the pain receded enough for Walter to become aware of his surroundings again. He was chained to both the floor and ceiling, there was something wet running down Walters arms, feet, and back, he ached all over, there was someone yelling in his ear, and his torturer still stood in front of him smiling wickedly. Finding strength Walter didn't realise he possessed he looked up into the mans eyes, his top lip moved in the imitation of a smile, and he said with a broken, cracking, but defiant voice, "Is that the best you've got?" before his head became too heavy and it drooped back to his chest again.

"Ha, ha!" The man laughed, "I like you Walter O'Brien. Don't know when you've been beaten. Don't worry though, you will soon learn and you will know your place." The man said ending with a sneer before walking out of Walters sight. Walter only had a second to contemplate what this might mean before he felt the cold metal touch his back and electricity rushed though his body yet again. Walter's back arched away from the Picana, away from the pain but when that didn't work yet again he started to convulse, screaming and crying loudly.

The man smiled and watched as the genius writhed and screamed under his hand, thrashing under the bite of his Picana completely at his mercy. The man pulled away after a few seconds but didn't give the genius time to recover before plunging it into his side.

Walter screamed as the pain tore though him. The longer it went on the more he could think and was aware while it was happening. The man did it at regular intervals. Holding it on Walter for 5 seconds then giving him 10 seconds to recover before starting again. It got into a pattern where although each time Walter screamed and thrashed from the pain, he could prepare his body for it, making it easier to bare. The pain came once again causing Walter to scream but he counted in his head 1...2...3...4...5... and the pain stopped. Walter caught his breath and prepared for the next. 10 seconds came... then went. Walter felt his body relax a bit thinking it was over before the pain struck again this time catching Walter off guard. He screamed and cried all the louder louder and his body shook even more violently. Somewhere in the back of Walter's mind he noted what was happening but it was only with hindsight that he realised that was when he lost control of his bladder. This time the pain seemed to last longer. Walter couldn't be sure, he was still writhing and screaming in pain but it definitely seemed to last longer. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. The pain stopped but once again Walter wasn't given much of a respite before the pain was back. This time it was different however. The brief gap allowed Walter's mind to come up with an explanation which was only conferment by the next blast of pain. It only seemed like longer because the voltage had increased. It was more painful so it seemed to last longer and Walter cried and screamed all the more but his torturer wouldn't relent. Just as he felt he was starting to get control of how things happened his torturer would change things up somehow; never giving Walter long enough to recover even slightly.

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Walter screamed before he finally gave in. "Please!" Walter begged crying and hoarse.

"You can stop this at any point. You know what to do." The man said in his ear. Before plunging the picana back in Walter's side.

"Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Please Master!" Walter begged his pride gone out the door, his head thrown back in pain.

"What do you want from me? I want you to beg for it." The man said quietly after removing the picana and Walters head dropped to his chest once more.

"Please, Master. May I have a break? I'm begging you." Walter said quietly with a croaky voice, no strength left to speak up.

"Well, seeing as you asked so nicely, yes. Understand this boy, I'm only giving you a break because I feel merciful and I want to reward you. You have done well." The man said before putting the picana down on the side and leaving the room shutting the light off on his way out. Walter didn't care though. He hung his head down partly in shame, and partly because he didn't have the strength to lift it. He felt sleep threaten to take him but he resisted and tuned in momentarily to his friends.

"Walt? Are you there buddy?" he heard Toby ask as if from a distance.

"'m here. 'm fine. Need sleep." Walter managed to get out now that all his strength had left him.

"You do that bud. Go to sleep. We will get you outta there." Toby said and that was the last Walter heard before sleep consumed him.


	2. Chapter 2

_(Time skip back to Walter waking up)_

"Don't turn back guys. I mean it. What ever you hear... ignore it. There is nothing you can do." Walter said to us over the coms. Everyone looked to each other with fear in their eyes. Paige removed her earpiece and looked towards Cabe who was riding shotgun.

"What are they going to do to him? He sounded..." Paige droned off looking at Cabe, hoping that she was wrong.

"We can't know anything for sure. He'll be fine. We will be as quick as we can and get him out before they can do anything," Cabe said removing his coms to speak before putting them back in; Paige copied but not because she wanted to, she wanted to be with her friend. Happy was driving, no one wanted to stop to change the drivers around, everyone just wanted to get back to base as quickly as possible. A few minutes later they heard Walter over the coms.

"Hello, my name is Walter. I highly doubt you have the mental capacity to speak because it looks like you have not evolved that far but if you can, what is your name? I like to think a lot and it would be nice to call you something other than 'the man'." Walter said not sounding the slightest bit afraid. Paige's skin ran cold. She looked to everyone else and saw the blood had drained from their faces as well. Toby was about to say something but Cabe spoke up first.

"What are you doing Walter! Don't antagonist him." Cabe said, his voice sounded like it had a false calm but anyone looking at him would know he was anything but. Happy's hands tightened around the steering wheel and the speed of the van picked up. They would be back at base in a few minutes. Paige looked to Sylevester who looked as if he were close to having a panic attack, he looked how Paige felt. She moved closer to him and put a hand on his arm.

"It's going to be okay, it's going to be..." Paige started to say before they heard Walter again.

"I guess that people with such low intelligence don't need names. They won't get anywhere in life." He said, this time his voice sounded slightly different. Anyone else wouldn't have noticed the difference but Scorpion knew. Paige quickly looked to Toby who confirmed her fears. Walter was just making things worse for himself.

"No, no, no Walt. You don't want to say that it will only just..." Toby started trying to get Walter to stop with the taunting but was interrupted by the sound of a grunt over the coms. If possible everyone went even more pale. The speed of the van picked up even more but there was no need, they were back at base. They heard another grunt from over the coms. Paige couldn't help from crying knowing it was Walter who was is pain. Happy responded with an angry yell, stomping out of the car and over to9 the door to their base kicking it open, Toby started shaking slightly, Sylvester started to sweat even more, and Cabe, Cabe was the only one who didn't react. He just shut his eyes for a moment before walking inside. Everyone was inside by the time they heard the next sound, but it was different, this time it was a cry of pain.

"Walter!" Paige said sobbing dropping to her knees covering her face with her hands. She was the only one who had an affect quite that bad. Everyone else seemed to have accepted this was happening.

"We won't get any work done if we are all listening to Walter. Everyone take out your coms so we can find him." Cabe said removing Paige's first before his own. Both Happy and Sylvester removed theirs at around the same time but Toby kept his in.

"Someone needs to stay with him. I'm the shrink, I will do it then tell you when something changes." Toby said walking over to his desk and sitting down putting his head in his hands. Everyone nodded then got to work coming up with a plan, Paige wasn't much help, she couldn't stop shaking and sobbing but tried to help as much as she could. Everyone kept an eye on Toby, they knew each time something happened because whenever Walter let out a cry, Toby flinched. After a few minutes the cries stopped and Toby looked up. "It's stopped," He said looking at everyone in fear. He knew what that meant and everyone guessed. They couldn't help themselves, they put their coms back in to listen carefully. It was selfish but they needed to know what was next. After a minute they heard Walter speak.

"That..." Walter started but his voice sound scratchy, very unlike Walter, "That is a picana... It is used predominately for human torture. It is either attached to a car battery or through a transformer to the mains. This means that you can have many times as much voltage and pain for less current and therefore have it on a lower amplitude reducing the risk of death, it is also connected to a rheostat so you can adjust how much pain it gives." From the name Picana everyone suddenly looked more fearful and looked towards Cabe, he had experience in this.

"You can do this son, we are coming up with a plan. Just hold on." Cabe said but his voice had started to shake.

"Just hold on Walter, don't give in." Paige said trying to sound calm for Walter but failing. She didn't know what a picana was but she knew it couldn't be good. Everyone else was saying encouragement as well but paused when they heard a different voice across the line.

"Very good. You know, they key to torturing people like you is to never stop. Alternate how much pain you give to let the victim recover from the intense pain while still suffering only to bring back the agony. This isn't going to stop boy until you give me what I want. At the moment it is just that you call me Master. I'm sure you can guess what I will want later. What do you say to that boy?" The voice said everyone held their breaths to start off with but then everyone sprang into action rushing around the computer.

"Running voice recognition now," Sylvester said typing wildly on the computer then pausing when Walter's response came over the coms.

"Well, you want a challenge. I'm not giving in anytime soon so you might as well either get on with what you were doing or leave." They heard Walter say before a loud 'SMACK' echoed though the coms and they heard Walter gasp. They all knew what had just happened but didn't pause to contemplate it. They just got on with their preparations. They had to get Walter out soon, or otherwise there will be no-one to get out. They heard what could have been the splash of water but chose to ignore it.

"Okay, they can no longer do anything to government servers. Well, nothing too bad. So if we..." Cabe started to say trying to get everyone to focus on getting Walter out when a blood curdling scream rang though the coms. Walters screams. This time Cabe did react, turning around and punching his fist into the wall almost growling. Paige did the opposite and collapsed onto a chair bringing up her knees and started sobbing. Everyone else just froze, closing their eyes to listen to Walters screams.

"I'm gonna kill him." Happy said quietly. Eventually the screams came to an end. There was silence for a few minutes, no one wanted to think the impossible had happened but the longer the silence lasted the more dread filled them.

"Is that the best you've got?" They heard a broken, cracking voice say.

"No, Walter." Paige said unable to help herself. A moment later the screams were back. No one wanted to remove their earpieces this time. They needed to know that Walter was still alive and still fighting. It could have been a few minutes, it could have been a few hours, the team didn't know. They just formulated their plan. They had almost finished when they heard Walter over the coms say something for the first time in a while and it broke them.

"Please!" The voice, no longer recognizable as Walter's, screamed over the coms. Everyone paused yet again. Walter was giving in.

"You can stop this at any point. You know what to do." The mans voice, who they found out was some guy called Rick Anderson, said quietly but crystal clear over the coms. Everyone looked to one another. They didn't know what he was talking about so just held their breath. If Walter was giving in and going to remove the firewall...

The scream came back momentarily but then stopped after they heard Walter yell out.

"Please Master!" Walter cried out. They could hear his heavy breathing over the coms before he said quietly, "Please, Master. May I have a break? I'm begging you." This broke everyone more that the screams but they held it together, mostly. Paige looked towards Toby begging him to say the right thing to Walter and make sure the man had left. She saw Toby swallow then nod before speaking softly to Walter.

"Walt? Are you there buddy?" Toby said. Paige could see the struggle Toby faced trying to keep his voice even. A moment later they heard Walters reply.

"'m here. 'm fine. Need sleep." Walter mumbled. They could hear his exhaustion and as much as Paige didn't want Walter to sleep, in case he never woke up, it was something he had to do. He needed his strength.

"You do that bud. Go to sleep. We will get you outta there." Toby replied. A moment later the heavy breathing over the coms became quieter and they guesses he had fallen asleep.

The team worked for two hours perfecting their plan. If they wanted Walter out then they needed the plan to be perfect. Then they left, piling into the van. It wasn't just them, they were bringing backup. Nothing was going to go wrong. They arrived at the place and entered, they found the computers which Sylvester quickly took care of, destroying the virus then taking down the firewall, while the rest of the team looked for Walter. They looked everywhere but found nothing, there was a basement but nothing was there, it didn't even look like it had been used.

"He's not here dammit." Happy said grabbing a hammer lying on the floor and swinging it into a wall. They didn't know what to do.

"Guy's, he has already broken enough to call the man Master. I don't know how much more he can take" Toby said pacing wringing his hands worriedly.

"We will find him. Don't worry." Cabe said looking at each of us. His eyes had a hardened look about them and you could see his resolve from a mile away. The confidence in those few words calmed down the team making them look at him. "Walter's a strong kid. He can make it. You are all geniuses, together we will find him and bring him home. Now, they must have taken him to a different place immediately..." Cabe said trying to start a discussion.

"They must have known that what ever Walter did was irreparable but knew that with his knowledge he would be able to do the same sort of thing again if they could... um... anyway, so they knocked him out and straight away took him to a different place to persuade him." Toby said then looked towards Sylvester getting him to run the math.

"It took 1 hour and 27 minutes for Walter to respond after we picked you up and left Walter. That means we need to look at places similar to this in that radius. I don't have my laptop and I destroyed the ones inside so I can't look now." Sylvester said nervously then looked towards Cabe.

"Okay, that's good. We have a starting point. Everyone, get into the van so we can get back to base and narrow down our options." Cabe said striding away. The rest of the team jogged to keep up but they didn't complain. They had hoped it would be a few hours before they heard from Walter again wanting him to get some rest, but when they were all in the car and on their way they heard Walter speak again.

"How's it going?" They heard a weak Walter ask. Everyone looked to one another unsure of what to say.

"Hey Walt, it's Toby. Umm, we came up with a plan and came to get you but you weren't there, we did disable the virus though. We will find you, we promise. We already have a few ideas. Don't worry mate." Toby said calmly looking to everyone else for reassurance.

"The man who is torturing me. He seems comfortable here, I think he might live here. Have you run voice recognition to find out..." Walter said and if it hadn't been for the slight slur in his words it would almost have been impossible to tell that this was no ordinary mission.

"I ran his voice though the data base. There wasn't much on him, we're going back and check it out though. His name is Rick Anderson." Sylvester said focusing on what he knew rather than contemplating what could be happening on the other end.

"Okay, all of this will be for nothing if you are dead. How bad are your injuries?" Toby said staring at anything other than the others on the bus.

"Both my wrists and ankles are bleeding from the cuffs, my back hurts but I can see it. I'm guessing it's bad, he whipped me. I have several burns around my body from where he used the picana, my nose hurts from where he broke it then put it back into place and I think I have a cut on my face from his fist." Walter said as if he were reading a shopping list. Paige was beyond crying at this point. All of them had accepted what was happening by now and crying would do no one any good.

"Okay, okay that's good Walt, could be worse. How are you feeling?" Toby asked trying to gauge the damage done to their friend.

"Ha, ha," Walter laughed weakly, "How do you think Toby? You're the shrink... I hear footsteps, he is coming back. I don't want you to hear this." Walter said sounding worried.

"We're not going anywhere." Toby said with a definite tine to his voice. They heard Walter sight dejectedly but then a moment later heard his intake of breath. It was starting again.


	3. Chapter 3

Walter felt himself tense as the man came into the room again.

"Well rested I see," The man said then looked expectantly at Walter. He was expecting a response. As much as Walter hated it he knew it, he would be worse if he didn't respond, and much worse than that unless he called the man... that. Taking a deep break Walter steeled himself before looking the man in the eye and replying.

"Yes, Master." Walter said without emotion. The man smiled and walked over to Walter who was still suspended above the floor.

"That's good, but I think it is time you learnt more. You look into my eyes defiantly and yet I am your Master. You don't look me in the eye unless I tell you to!" The man said starting of quiet then ending in a yell. The man lifted his fist and backhanded Walter across the face. The man had obviously held nothing back. Walter gasped and felt his lip sting. A moment later Walter could taste metal as blood ran from the cut on his lip into his mouth. Walter quickly looked down. He wasn't gong to give the man what he wanted but if he complied for now then the pain would be less, giving his friends more time to find him. Walter hated apologising, after all, most the time he was right but had ended up offending someone in the process. It wasn't his fault if they were offended, Walter was just stating facts, but he knew that was what the man wanted.

"I'm sorry Master," Walter said in a quiet voice. His throat already hurt from screaming, he didn't want to hurt it any more than he had to.

"That's better." The man said before turning around and walking out of the room. He wasn't gone long however, a moment later he walked back in carrying a... carrying a branding iron. The end held a pattern that Walter couldn't make out, the one thing he didn't miss was that the end was white from heat. Walter quickly looked at the floor again. The man couldn't be doing this. "You are mine now. My little pet, and I want everyone to know. I want you to always be reminded that you belong to me."

The man walked over so he was standing by Walters right side and held the iron just a centimeter off the fleshy bit of skin just above his hip. Now that it was closer Walter could see it more clearly. The metal was in the shape of an intricate K with a circle surrounding it approximately the size of Walter fist. It would have been beautiful had it not been the shape of a branding iron just centimeters from touching his skin.

"This might hurt." The man said with a sadistic smile before closing the distance between the metal and Walters skin. It wasn't as painful as the picana but that didn't make much difference to Walter. He screamed at the top of his lungs and writhed under the white hot metal. Once again Walter wasn't sure how long it lasted but eventually the pain lessened as the metal was removed. What ever strength Walter had regained left him and he felt his chin connect with his chest again. "Don't give up yet. I still have two more to do. You see, I want to keep a record of the amount of torture sessions we have."

The man headed towards the door and left but once again came back a moment later carrying another branding iron. This one didn't really have a pattern, just a single line that was glowing white. "So I'm going to start a tally on your arm. I'm guessing you're right handed so..." The man said then walked back over to Walters right side, this time reaching up grasping hold of Walters right elbow twisting it so his forearm was showing. He raised the iron but Walter didn't look, he kept his stare at the floor and waited for the pain. After a moment it came spreading from the left of his wrist through his arm. Once again, the pain wasn't as bad this time but still enough for Walter to scream and writhe trying to get away. The pain lessened and then was back in a slightly different place, further to the right, and after the man was done Walter was left panting.

"There you go, the start of a tally. Last sessions and this session. Now, lets being. I was thinking, you have loads of pretty cuts on your back but nothing on your front. Why don't we paint a picture eh?" The man said with a smile depositing the iron on the table replacing it with a whip like think with 9 cords coming from a grip. He walked over into Walters view and showed off his toy. "This is called the cat o'nine tails. Not as fun to use as the ordinary whip, but it is shorter giving me a bit more control. So, why don't we let the cats out the bag eh?" The man said with a laugh at his own joke.

Walter didn't respond, just kept staring at the mans feet. Not that he could look anywhere else anyway, Walter didn't have the strength to lift his head. The man didn't wait for a response, he moved back giving himself space before bringing the whip down on Walter's front. Last time Walter managed not to scream, but then again last time it was just an ordinary whip being used. Walter let out a strangled cry as the whip struck his body cutting immediately though his skin. The man moved his arms on one fluid movement up, down, hit, round, not giving Walter a break before the next one landed. Each time it hit Walter screamed holding nothing back, by the eighth one all the fight had left Walter, he didn't even have the strength to scream anymore. Walter just hung there as the man disfigured his skin, cutting, hurting, torturing Walter and he could do nothing about it. Each time the whip hit he let out a slight grunt as the air was forced from his lungs but he didn't have the strength to do anymore. Walter didn't know how much time had passed but eventually the man stopped.

"This is no fun anymore. You've stopped screaming. Oh well." The man said but it hadn't registered in Walter's mind. He didn't know how long he hung there with the man waiting patiently next to him but eventually Walter came back to his senses and the man smiled. "Welcome back."

Walter heard some jingling but thought nothing of it, that is until one of the manacles around his wrist fell off leaving him suspended, at first, by only one hand and then nothing. The man had unchained Walter. In an ideal world Walter would have had the strength to lend on his feet, defeat his captor, and the escape. But this was hardly an ideal world, and Walter didn't have the strength. He couldn't even get his feet under him in time to slow his fall. Walter just collapsed onto the ground and stayed there. He felt the chains get removed from around his ankles before the man grabbed him, picked him up and flung Walter into the chair he had seen to his left. He felt metal around his wrists and ankles again and realised he was once again restrained. After a moment Walter recovered enough to look around again. Things looked different being slightly to the left and lower, but he was still recognisably in the same room.

"As I said when I started, the best way to torture someone like you is to alternate in the pain you give. In comparison, this will be a lot less agonising but still painful, well kind of, you'll see" The man said then walked over to the table grabbing several long metal wires and pliers. We walked back in front for Walter and brought the pliers up level with the nails on Walters left hand. The man got a hold of the nail and gently lifted it up. The pain wasn't enough to make Walter scream involuntarily so he clenched his teeth shut and grimaced in pain. The man didn't remove the nail however, only lifted it up slightly. He then let go and brought a metal wire up in its place. Without stopping the man continued to push it under Walters nail in the gap he had created pushing it deeper into his finger and hand. Once again Walter clenched his teeth and grimaced throwing his head back so he didn't didn't have to look and squeezed his eyes shut. The man then proceeded to do that again to each of his fingernails and then his toenails. Once he was done, the pain wasn't too bad so Walter opened his eyes and observed the mans work. He had to resist the urge to vomit. The man walked away and returned with the picana. Walter didn't say anything, only watched with dread as the man collected the wires and connected them together on the metal end of the picana. Walter avoided the mans eyes keeping his eyes trained on the floor but Walter could feel the mans grin. A moment later Walter heard a click as the man turned the power on. Not much else registered in Walters mind other than the pain. The man had been right, it was a step down as this pain was concentrated over a smaller area, but the time he had spend putting the wires in place had given Walter a chance to rest and regain a bit of strength. So the moment the electricity was turned on Walter threw his head back and screamed. His head flew back and his whole body shook from the pain originating in his fingertips and toes. He couldn't stop the tears flowing down his face, he couldn't stop the strangled yells coming from his mouth, he couldn't control his body. Eventually the pain stopped and Walters head lolled forward.

"Now that was fun!" The man said detaching the picana from the metal wires and putting it back on the table. "Look at me." The man asked standing in front of Walter but he didn't have the strength anymore. He didn't want to anger the man but he just couldn't lift his head. After a moment the man stormed over, grabbed hold of the wires in his nails and wrenched them out. Walter threw his head back and screamed again. They were far more painful coming out than going in.

"Look at me!" The man yelled at Walter. Walter opened his eyes again and looked at what remained of his nails. Nothing. The nails had been ripped off. Finding the strength Walter managed to lift his head to look at the man. "Good."

The man turned around and walked back towards to table. Walter kept his eyes trained on the man not wanting to upset him. A moment later the man returned holding a flannel and a bucket of water.

"I think you need cooling off." The man said before walking over to Walter so he stood next to the chair. The man tipped Walters chair back, against what Walter did not know, he grabbed a handful of Walters hair and pulled his head back. "Stay." The man commanded before letting go. Walter stayed in that very uncomfortable position while the man gathered his flannel and covered Walter's face with it. Walter began to panic, he knew what came next, his heart rate sped up along with his breathing tying to get as much oxygen into his body before the man...

Walter couldn't breath. He felt water cover his face going up his nose and in his mouth as he tried to breath. Not able to get a breath in, Walter began to struggle but the man was too strong. Walter chocked trying to get in air as the water was continuously poured over his face. Walter struggled more, his heart rate picked up, and he felt himself going lightheaded. A moment later the water stopped and the cloth was removed. Walter sucked in deep breaths compensating for the air he had been deprived of, he wasn't given long to recover before the water and cloth was back bringing back the feeling of being drowned. This continued for the next 20 minutes. Whenever the bucket was emptied the man left for a minute to refill giving Walter a chance to breath and recover before the man started again. After 20 minutes the man left to refill the bucket one last time, this time when he returned, instead of continuing with the waterboarding the man covered Walters whole body in the water so he was soaked, then tipped Walters chair up the right way again.

"In a minute I'm going to ask you to do something." The man said walking away, returning moments later with the picana. "If you refuse then I will do this..." and suddenly the end of the picana connected with Walters skin. Walter writhed and screamed trying to get away. Very quickly though the metal way removed leaving Walter panting. "If you say yes and do it and I will let you lie down and sleep, am I understood?" The man asked tilting Walter's face up so he had no choice but to look at him.

"Yes, Master." Walter said before it even comprehended in his mind what he was saying.

"Good boy," The man said patting Walter's head. "Do you like being mine?"

"Yes, Master." Walter replied once again before he even remembered deciding he was going to respond. The man grinned.

"I'm glad I have broken you. You will always do what I ask now, won't you?" The man said.

Walter wanted to say no, he really did. He opened his mouth to say it but was surprised to hear himself say, "Yes, Master." Walter was ashamed by it. He could hear someone in his ear talking to him but he didn't know who it was. He couldn't recognise the voice. He didn't even know why he was here. Walter searched through his memories for answers, to try and remember his life before this small, dark room, but came up with nothing. Who was he? Why was he ashamed? He belonged to this man in front of him. He should be happy to do whatever that man asked. He would do it without hesitation.

"I need you to write a program for a virus that is impossible to destroy. That will go into the governments servers and multiply, infect, and spread giving us control over the governments computers and giving us knowledge of their plans. Where we can control what we get and what the virus does but so it can never be destroyed." The man said getting closer and closer to Walter's ear, his voice dropping into a whisper.

Walter wanted to say yes. He tried to say yes... but couldn't. Something was stopping him. He wanted to tell his Master that 'of course he could and would do it' but the words didn't come out. Something in the back of his mind nagged at him, telling him it would be a bad idea. Telling him he mustn't do it. To hold on longer so his... so his friends could find him.

"Walt listen to me! Listen to my voice. Don't do it! You are stronger than this Walt. We are coming for you. We are only a few hours away from finding you and coming to get you. Just hold on a little longer!" He heard a man say in one of his ears. He recognised that voice, it belonged to one of his friends. His name began with a 'T'... Toby. It was Toby telling him not to. Walter turned to face the man expecting him to say yes.

"Never," Walter said, it was a struggle. All his instincts told him to say yes, to do what the man said, but Walter knew he mustn't. A moment later the picana touched his side again. This time the pain was worse. Far worse than it had ever been before. Walter screamed at the top of his lungs writhing uncontrollably in the chair. Walter lost all sense of time, space, direction, thought, there was only the pain. After what felt like years the pain was gone.

"Very well, we'll do this the hard way." The man said. Then Walter passed out. Walter didn't know how long he was unconscious for but he woke up to the feeling of the cat o'nine tails striking his back . "Wakey Wakey!" The man yelled in Walter ear. Walter let out a yell, first of pain, then surprise. "I have decided that since you wont give me what I want I will take something else I want from you instead."

The man walked over to where Walter could see him and without delay pulled down Walters boxers leaving him naked. "You are my bitch!" The man yelled into Walter's face. He then reached down to his own trousers and pulled down the zip freeing the mans dick. Walter didn't notice the lubricant the man held in his other hand until he was squirting in into his palm and stroking his dick to full length. The whole situation disgusted Walter but that didn't stop his dick becoming slightly erect as well. Once the man was at full length he walked behind Walter still palming his dick. Walter felt the cold wetness of the lubricant cover his entrance as the man spread his cheeks exposing his hole. Walter shut his eyes, 'it's fine' Walter told himself. At least he isn't electrocuting me. How hard could this be compared with everything else? Walter felt the mans dick at his entrance and didn't even have enough time to get himself prepared before the man slammed into him. Walter let out a yell of pain and he felt the man tear into his anus. Walter wasn't even given a chance to rest before the man started to move, in, out, in, out, each time slamming into Walter's arse. Walter swung from the chains impaling himself on the mans dick even more. After a few minutes the man re-angled himself so each time he hit Walter prostate.

"Argh!" Walter yelled in pain and surprisingly pleasure. Walter had heard about the pleasurable feeling of one's prostate being massaged but he didn't expect to feel it in a situation like this, and that just made everything worse. Walter felt his dick harden and a few minutes later the man came inside him. Walter tried not to but he couldn't help coming as well. Semen spurted from his dick and a wave of pleasure engulfed him. Walter wanted to pass out. His head lolled and his surroundings became darker but the man pulling out of him woke him up.

"I don't know why I didn't do that sooner!" The said man happily. Walter heard him walk away but did lift his head to look. The man returned a moment later and out of his peripheral vision saw the man return with the cat o'nine tails. "Before I finish up I just wanted to end on a reminder. You are never escaping the pain." The man said. Walter heard the whip whistle through the air again before it connected with his thighs causing Walter to yell. Walter knew what the man was doing. His legs were the only part of his body that were still untouched. The man wanted to mark him everywhere. So on it went until not a single bit of his body was left untouched. The man even returned to his back and stomach again, re-opening cuts that had just started the beginning processes of healing. Walter didn't know how much time passed but by the time the man stopped he could barely think. It didn't register that the man had stopped, this time Walter was gone. He didn't know who he was or what he was doing here. All he knew was that he belonged to the man teaching him. Walter hung there for about an hour still reeling from the pain and the man just waited. He waited until he saw Walter start to respond to his surroundings again before continuing.

"Boy?" The man said trying to get Walter's attention, "Look at me."

The voice registered in Walters head and without deciding to look up he felt his head move to look at the man who owned him. "Yes Master?" The man smiled and once again he heard jingling as his cuffs were removed and he dropped to the floor. His master hadn't told him to stand yet. Walter's will wasn't his own, he belonged to the man.

"On your feet." The man said in a falsely gentle voice. Walter stood as soon as the man spoke. It was hard, painful, and Walter didn't have the energy but somehow he stood without even deciding he would stand. But why would he have to decide to do something, his master knew what he could and couldn't do, his master made the decisions for him. "Good boy." Walter saw the man lift his hand and felt pressure on his head as the man petted him like you would a pet. Before he was captured Walter despised human contact but now he craved it. He craved his masters touch, he needed it. Walter shut his eyes and leaned into the hand, he felt his body relax. "You belong to me."

"Yes Master, always." Walter said in response.

"Now that you are fully broken, things will be easier. The problem is that I thought we had reached this point earlier and yet you defied me. I need you to prove that you know how whom you belong to. I want you to drop to your knees and suck my dick." The man said in Walter's ear. Without a second though, Walter dropped to his knees so he was level with the mans dick. At some point the man had obviously cleaned it and dressed himself again because all Walter could see was the mans trousers. He reached up and pulled the zipper down freeing the mans length before wrapping his mouth around it. Walter had never given a man a blowjob, and even if he had he wouldn't remember, so he did what he felt was right trusting his master to tell him if he was doing it wrong. Walter bobbed up and down on the mans dick, flicking his tongue across the slit at the top when he could. After a moment he felt the man reach around and grab Walters hair with both of his hands and thrusting into Walters mouth. Walter felt the man's member slide down his throat before the man pulled back and thrust in again. Walter didn't have a gag reflex so he was more than happy to let his master fuck his mouth. If it pleased his master then it pleased him. The man started thrusting even harder and deeper before shuddering and coming plunging as far into Walter's mouth as he could. Walter couldn't breath, but he didn't need to. He trusted his master. A minute later Walter started to see spots and his need for air only increased, but that didn't matter. Just as Walter was about to pass out, the man withdrew. Walter gasped for breath but didn't complain. "Good boy, I believe you. All this training is tiring me out. I put the Picana back on the table. Could you get it for me?"

Walter didn't remember getting up and grabbing it, but a moment later he was stood in front of his master with he Picana.

"Good pet, now, I'm too tired to continue with your training. So I want you to do it. Turn the Picana on and touch it to the skin on your stomach. Don't stop until I tell you to."

Walter didn't even need to think. He flipped the Picana in his hand, turned it on, and touched it to the skin on his stomach.

"Ahhhhh!" Walter screamed, he felt his legs give out and he fell to the floor but he kept the Picana against his body. The pain was intense, Walter didn't know how long he kept it up for but he screamed the entire time. He hear voices in his ear telling him to stop. That he can stop. But he didn't recognise them, they weren't his master so he kept going. He heard a gunshot and still Walter didn't stop. He felt people pulling his arm away from his body but they weren't his master so he resisted. Then the pain stopped. The power had been switched off. Walter collapsed into the floor. It must have been his master. Walter could remember shutting his eyes so he opened them and looked up. He saw someone over him but he didn't recognise them, all he knew was that it wasn't his master. Walter backed up, fear in his eyes. Where was his master? And then he spotted him, lying on the floor, a pool of blood beneath him. He looked back at the people who had entered the room, one question on his mind.

"Who are you?"


	4. Chapter 4

The team rushed out of the van the moment it stopped in front of the building they hoped Walter was in. They heard Walter break for a second time and needed to get to him before it was too late. Yelling over the coms didn't help, Walter didn't seem to recognise him. It took longer than they had hoped to find the building but they were here now. All they could hope for was for Walter to be inside. The team heard gunshots as their back up rushed into the building to secure the area. Once the gunshots stopped the team ran into the building. They split up to find the basement but it didn't take long.

"HERE!" Cabe yelled when he found it. The team were there in seconds. They braced themselves for what they would see but nothing could have prepared them for it. Cabe slammed open the door and immediately shot at the man they identified as Rick. They all rushed into the room and were greeted by the sight of a beaten bloodied Walter screaming and writhing on the ground holding the picana to his own skin. The once grey room was now splattered in blood, it cover the floor, the walls, and even somehow the ceiling, a puddle of white liquid was just in front of where the chains hung from the ceiling. The team froze, but only for a moment, before springing into action. Cabe rushed over to Walter, desperate to stop him.

"Walter! Stop!" Cabe yelled but it was no use. He tried to pull the device away but Walter faught to keep it in his hand. Happy looked around and saw where the picana was plugged in before turning the power off. The moment the power was off Walter collapsed and his screams stopped.

"Walter? Walter! " Cabe and Toby yelled at him and Walter opened his eyes. The team breathed out a sight of relief that was short lived. Walter looked around, saw the man dead before looking back at the two men hovering over him and the team behind them.

"Who are you?"

Their blood ran cold. The team was frozen in shock. No. Cabe walked back a few steps to give Walter space before looking at Toby who moved to fill the space and leaned in to speak to Walter.

"Walter," He started but hi voice wavered. He paused for a second before continuing, "My name is Toby, these are my friend. Cabe, Happy, Sylvester, and Paige. They aren't just my friends, they are your friends too. Don't you remember?"

Walter looked confused before shaking his head. He looked to his master before looking back at Toby.

"What did you do to my master?" Walters voice was broken, sad, lifeless, and above all else, afraid.

"Your... master, he was a bad man. I don't think you remember, but he did some bad things and we wanted to stop him, you as well. But he caught you and did this to you. I need you to trust me. Your name is Walter, my name is Toby, and I am your friend." Toby said with finality. Walter didn't know what to think. He didn't know these people and they just killed his master, but for some reason he wanted to trust them.

"Okay," Walter said. It seemed as if he used up his last piece of energy because a moment later he passed out. Toby checked for a pulse and sighed when he found one.

"He's still alive. Just unconscious. We need to get him to a hospital, now." Toby said moving to the side so he could look at his friends.

-line break-

The group sat in the waiting room watching as seconds turned into minutes, and minutes turned into hours. The whole group was anxious to hear about Walter. Paige sat twiddling her thumbs watching the clock but also watching the rest of the group seeing how they were doing and if she could help them in any way, but mostly her gaze was towards the door hoping that the doctors walking out had news about Walter. Sylvester sat putting hand sanitizer on every few minutes and verbally communicating the likely hood of Walter being okay, or whether the doctor coming into the room would have news. Toby was pacing playing with his hat and every time a doctor walked anywhere near them analysed their behaviour and told the group what it would mean for Walter, however, none of the doctors were for them. Happy sat and glared at anyone, even doctors, who came near, and Cabe was standing a little to the side of everyone practically yelling at the phone. So, it was no surprise to see that there was a radius of about 3 meters around the whole group that was completely empty; everyone had just crowded at the other end of the waiting room; people, included the doctors, gave the group a wide birth. This only changed when a slightly older doctor with brown and greying hair, a friendly smile, and a walking stick walked towards the group looking increasingly nervous and seemed to be considering why he had chosen to enter this profession. The moment he walked within the three meter radius, the whole group had their eyes on him, the moment he walked passed the two meter mark everyone had stood up and walked to the doctor, closing the distance and slightly crowding him causing him to step back.

"Are you with Walter O'Brien?" The doctor asked but didn't give the group time to respond as the answer to his question was clear. "Your friend had many injuries but none of them were fatal. I am pleased to tell you that he will make a full, physical, recovery. However, we estimate 70% of his body will be covered in scar tissue, it may be more, it may be less, we won't know until he has fully healed, and as he is not conscious we are yet to find out the mental repercussions the experience will have had on him. Usually, we don't allow visitors who are not family to visit this early on; however, you have been given special permissions and are allowed to visit him when ever you like unless he says otherwise. If you would follow me please, I will show you to him." The doctor turned and briskly walked away but the group kept up with him easily, eager to see Walter. "There are already chairs in the room prepared for you and a spare bed for if one of you wanted to stay overnight. We have given Mr O'Brien his own room due to the unique circumstances with which he is here." The doctor said as he walked. When the group eventually reached the room the doctor said one last thing before turning around and walking away. "We expect he will be out for approximately 11 hours. If there is any change in his condition please notify us immediately, you will notice a red button by his bed for if this happens. If he is out for longer than 13 hours and we have not noticed please press the button to notify us."

"Thank you," Paige said quietly to the doctor before he walked away. He tilted his head slightly in conformation then briskly left the group. Without waiting another second the group rushed into the room taking seats around Walter, Paige sat to his left and immediately grasped hold of his hand. Everyone else just sat down and watched Walter intently. After a moment Toby grabbed the medical folder and started reading through it. After a moment he turned slightly pale before putting it down and turning back to Walter.

"You'll be okay mate. You always are, no matter what god damn idiotic thing you do." Toby said with a tone none of them could recognise before slumping in his chair, almost as if he felt defeated.

"What did the folder say?" Sylvester asked shakily. Toby just shook his head before replying.

"Nothing we hadn't already guessed. He will make a full physical recovery." Toby said putting emphasis on the 'will'. "But his mental state will be something else entirely. For one he didn't recognise us when we rescued him. I don't know if he will regain those memories or if we will have to work to fix it but either way... Any normal person would have been driven to insanity; no one, not even I, can guess how it will effect Walter. He could be completely fine but we all know that is a very small possibility. He might end up with PTSD, in fact he probably will. While being tortured he may have shut off his emotions completely and there is a strong possibility that, that will carry over into his everyday life. All the progress he may have made with his EQ might be completely gone. On the other hand the complete opposite might happen. Because he shut his emotions off while he was tortured, now he is back to being with us it might be so overwhelming for him that he might not know how to handle it. What will most likely happen though, is that he will act completely normal but hide his actual suffering from us so he will never move on. He will probably end up having flashbacks during the day and at night but because he will want everything to be normal we won't be able to help, he will just get up and continue on as if nothing happened. It is that, that scares me the most. If he doesn't accept help it will just end up getting worse, but if we force our help on him then he will push us away and we will never stand a chance. We would need to help him in subtle ways so he doesn't know it. This is all theoretical, he might make a complete recovery." Toby said but he didn't look hopeful. The group had already suspected this but suspecting and being told by a shrink are completely different things. No one said a word after that, everyone just sat and watched. A few times someone would get up to use the toilet, or get food and drinks but other than that there was little to no movement. Finally, when everyone was close to sleep, Walter moved. It was only very small so no one would have noticed if Paige weren't holding onto Walter's hand when is finger twitched.

"Guys!" Paige said before standing to hover over Walter. "Walter? Walter, can you hear me? Please wake up. You moved, you have to be waking up. It has been 11 hours, please. You have to wake up." Paige said, she barely noticed the tears that had started to fall down her face. She was just about to give up hope when his eyelashes flickered. Toby, who had been watching Paige closely with his eyebrows moving closer and closer together almost as if he were annoyed or jealous, quickly turned back to Walter, walked to the other side of the bed so he was next to Walters head and grabbed his other hand. Slowly, very slowly, Walters eyes opened. At first they stayed transfixed on the ceiling but then they started to look around as Walter took in more and more of his surroundings. Finally, his eyes landed on Paige who was practically hovering over him. Paige could almost see the gears turning in his head as he processed everything that was going on around him. At first he looked confused, as if he didn't recognise anyone. But slowly, very slowly, that look faded.

"Paige?" Walter croaked. The sound came out as a near whisper but everyone heard. The team sighed in relief, he recognised them. Walter was back.

"Yes, I'm right here Walter." Paige said and she laughed, not because something was funny, but out of relief. He was awake. Walter O'Brien was finally awake.

"I don't understand. Why are you crying?" He asked looking confused. His eyebrows knitted together in a way that was so familiar to Paige that it caused her to laugh and cry even more.

"Not all tears are sad tears Walter. I'm crying because I'm happy you're awake, and that you remember me." Paige said with light squeeze of Walters hand. He thought about this for a minute before nodding and looking at the rest of the group, his eyes finally landing on Toby. His gaze flicked down to his hand in Toby's, but didn't withdraw it, then focused back on the man in front of him. Recently they had gotten close, Walter didn't know what this meant, but he did know that cared about the man more now for some reason. After a minute he looked back at the rest of the group.

"What happened?" He said looking at everyone individually.

"We will explain soon son, but first we need to notify the doctor. He needs to know you're awake." Cabe said with a small smile before reaching over to press the red button. A few minutes later a nurse came running in, quickly followed by the doctor. Before the doctor reached Walter, however, Toby caught his arm.

"I'm a doctor, once you are done I am going to asses his mental state." Toby said before letting go. The doctor nodded before turning back to Walter.

"Hello Mr O'Brien, I'm Doctor Watson. You sustained heavy injury so I would like to ask a few questions. Tell me, how are you feeling? Do you feel any pain or discomfort anywhere?" The doctor said with a slight squint in his eyes and leaning closer as if that would help him see into Walters mind.

"No Doctor, I'm completely fine. I just want things to go back to normal. When can I leave?" Walter said then sat up slightly. Walter immediately regretted the move. Pain immediately spread through his body and he collapsed again, "Ahhh" Walter said quietly in pain. He quickly looked around at everyone hoping they had missed it but no one had.

"If you don't tell me the truth then it will take longer for you to heal and longer for you to get out. You can leave in a few weeks time when your wounds have started to close, and you can walk without aid. I will be able to tell you more accurately soon. Now, I'm going to repeat my question. How are you feeling? Where do you feel pain?" The doctor said with raised eyebrows and waited for Walters response.

"I... My back hurts the most and I have mild pain everywhere else. I also have a headache and I'm hungry." Walter said quickly, almost as if saying it quickly would make it any less true.

"I see." The doctor said then walked towards the bed. Everyone moved out of the way to give the doctor space and after a few minutes the doctor had finished. He increased the amount of pain killers Walter was receiving before stepping back. "I will be back again to check on you later," He was about to leave when he stopped to look at his phone. He suddenly looked very frustrated before putting the phone to his ear and talked into it while walking away, "I'm at work Sherlock! Unless this is really important..." The group heard him say before the door shut behind him.

"Huh, he didn't strike me as the type who would have a child." Toby said looking after the doctor before turning back to Walter. "Okay, I need you all to leave the room now while I do a mental examination..."

"Is that really necessary Toby?" Walter said as the group left the room leaving them alone.

"Yes," Toby said looking serious before asking Walter a series of questions. After what felt like hours, or possibly only a few minutes the team came back into the room and sat back down in the seats they had claimed as theirs, Cabe told Walter exactly what had happened and only when Walter had drifted off into a drug induced sleep Toby told the team what he had discovered.

"I was right. He won't accept help from any of us. I won't know the full extent of his PTSD until I have monitored him for several weeks but I can tell you now, it is going to be bad." Toby said seriously, "Okay, it's late and Walter will probably be out for the next few hours. I will stay here but I think everyone else should go home. I will call you if anything happens." No one looked happy at Toby's words but they knew it was the best thing to do. After saying they would be back in the morning the team left for their homes to get a goodnight's sleep. Toby looked towards Walters sleeping form before walking over to the other bed, laying down, and going to sleep.

The next few weeks were a blur. The team, minus Cabe who still had to go into work, were with Walter almost all the time, only leaving to get some sleep. The group took turns staying the night but nothing really happened. Ralph came to visit a few times but the team, unanimously decided that, as they did not know Walter's mental state, it would probably be best for him to stay away most of the time. 3 weeks later the last of Walters bandages were removed and the doctor finally granted the team permission to take Walter home (although none of the team were allowed in the room so only Walter and the doctor were fully aware to the extent of Walters scarring), first telling them how he should never be left completely alone.

"I don't need any help." Walter said frustrated as he hobbled his way over to the car from the hospital. Even though the cuts and burns had all healed, Walter hadn't properly walked in weeks and so was unsteady on his feet. Paige ignored him and stayed close, Toby right next to him, just in case but didn't say anything until they were on their way back to the garage.

"Are you sure you're not in any pain or discomfort?" Paige said looking worriedly at Walter who had started to zone out. Happy was driving the car with Toby next to her in front leaving just Paige and Walter in the back. Cabe and Sylvester were in the car behind them.

"I appreciate all that you are trying to do for me. All my injuries have healed, I feel perfectly fine. I just want things to go back to normal." Walter said to Paige before turning to look back out the window. Paige didn't know what to say, she looked to Toby for help but he stared resolutely out the front window. Deciding to give Walter some space, Paige turned to look out of her own window. She was just about to decide to give up for the day when she felt Walters hand on her own. Her hand had been resting in the space between them but when she looked, she saw Walters hand covering her own. She looked back over at Walter to find him still staring out of the window, his facial expression unchanging, she frowned at him just before she felt him give her hand a slight squeeze. She looked back down at their hands and understood, this was Walter saying thank you. In that moment she realised what she could do for him. In that moment she realised that her worrying about him wasn't going to fix anything, but just being there for him and continuing to try and raise his EQ was all she needed to do. She looked back to Walter again and smiled before giving Walters hand a gentle squeeze too and turning to look out her window. Toby turned around to check on Walter when he saw his hand in Paige's. Something flared inside Toby that he didn't understand, he had never felt this way in a context like this, but what he did realise shocked him. He was jealous.

They pulled up to the garage and the moment the car stopped Walter released Paige's hand. He was about to open the door when it was opened for him. He struggled out of the car and into a standing position but eventually he was standing walked towards the garage, Walter hobbled slowly but gradually he got better; with the rest of the team either in front, behind, or to the side of him. About half way there Walter was almost walking normally and by the time he reached the door seemed perfectly fine. He opened the door and, without further ado, went to his laptop to start working. On what, Paige didn't know, she just turned around and went to Toby. The rest of the team split up to continue their work and Cabe walked away to talk on the phone.

"I saw you two holding hands." Toby said to Paige with a slight frown.

"Yeah, I don't know why he did it but I think that is how I can support him." She said with a smile and a quick glance towards Walter.

"It might help. We will see." Toby said before quickly walking away. Paige looked at her watch and saw it was only 12 o'clock. She decided she would pick Ralph up from school today and take him somewhere nice. The last few weeks had been hard on him, even if he didn't show it, and Paige wanted to treat him. She was just about to go to her desk to start work when she noticed Walter out of the corner of her eye. It caught her attention causing her to walk over to him. Something wasn't right. Walter's whole body had gone stiff, his hands had clenched into fists and his eyes were scrunching up tighter and tighter.

"Guys!" She yelled before Walter collapsed off his chair, onto the floor. At first he just started shaking but then they grew more violent. Suddenly his back arched off the floor and he let out a scream. In that instance she knew what was wrong.

"He's having a flashback!" Toby said before dropping to the floor to grab hold of Walter's arms and pin them above his head. "Happy, Cabe grab hold of his legs. Hold him down, we need to stop him from hurting himself!" Toby yelled over Walters screaming. Cabe and Happy had a hard time grabbing hold of his legs. Walter was thrashing and screaming, writhing on the floor. Eventually though, Cabe and Happy succeeded and, although it wasn't easy, held Walter down.

"Walter? Walter!" Paige said kneeling by the side of him. He could hear her, his head was thrown back and he fought against his friends who held him down.

"Sly! Get down here and help me hold his arms down!" Toby commanded Sly who was staring down at Walter frozen in place. He quickly snapped out of it and went to help Toby. Paige lent over Walter and put her hands on either side of his head holding it still. She leaned down until she was only a little bit above him.

"Walter, you need to listen to me. You are no longer there. You are back at the garage. You are here with us. The man is dead. You need to come back to us." Paige said, her voice cracking in the middle. After a moment Walters screams grew less until he was silent and he stopped writhing on the floor. However, the team didn't let go, they stayed where they were pushing down hard on all of Walters limbs, Paige still hovered above him with her hands on his face. After a moment his eyes opened. At first they looked around unseeing, Paige saw the panic in his eyes and he started to fight to be released. Still the team didn't let go. "Walter, it's just us." Paige said softly. After a moment Walter's broken eyes found hers and he stilled again. Another moment passed and Walter blinked, soon the vulnerability Paige had seen was gone, replaced with cool calculating eyes. Seeing that he was okay, she dropped her hands and leaned away, if she had stayed in that position any longer it could be misconstrued. She didn't have any romantic feelings for him but cared about him like a brother.

"I am sorry, that was unprofessional." Walter said with a weak voice. He tried to get up but fell back, he was still pinned to the floor. "Do you think you could release me now?" Walter said moving his head so he looked up at Toby. Everyone's eyes followed Walter's and looked to Toby who, after a minute, nodded. They all released Walter and sat back exhausted, even Cabe looked worn out by the exercise. Walter got shakily to his feet and without looking at anyone, turned back to his desk. Before he could sit down, however, Paige stood up and pulled him into a hug. At first he resisted and tried to pull away but, when he realised he couldn't, eventually surrendered to the hug. He put his arms on Paige's back and before he realised it, he was hugging her back. The rest of the team stood up and watched this without saying a word although Toby looked like he wanted to interrupt. Paige was surprised when she felt him hugging her back just as tightly, resting his head on her shoulder. After a moment she felt him shake beneath her, but this was different, he was crying. Paige just held onto him as he cried into her shoulder. The rest of the team, seeing this was a private moment turned their back and moved to the kitchen, Toby was the last to go, albeit grudgingly, where they could no longer see Walter or Paige.

"That was, intense." Cabe said stiffly. He was obviously shaken up by what had just happened but tried to hide it. What had just happened had affected them all.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Walter said seemingly to appear out of no where with Paige by his side. Everyone jumped, too preoccupied with their own thoughts to notice Walter come back. Before he could say anything else Sly rounded on Walter giving him a hug of his own. The two had grown close after Megan's death, they were brothers. After Sylvester pulled away Walter turned to the rest of the team. "Paige has pointed out to me that, even though I want to go back to everything being normal, that can't happen if I keep having flashbacks and am drawn to the past. She made the point that I can't move on by myself, so even though I want you all to treat me as you used to, I won't say no to any possible help you might happen to bring." Walter said awkwardly. He was about to walk away when stopped and quickly said, "Thank you," his gaze lingering on Toby for a second before walking back to his desk.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Paige went and picked up Ralph who insisted on being brought back to the garage. He spent the rest of the day there talking to Walter and even though she was worried about Walter having another one of his seizures, saw that Walter seemed to be happy talking to Ralph. Paige called the sitter at the end of the day and asked if she could pick Ralph up and look after him for the night. Even though Paige wanted to spend some time with Ralph, she couldn't leave Walter. The end of the day came and the team went home, Ralph got picked up by the sitter leaving Walter and Paige alone.

"Okay, time for bed. I will sleep on the sofa tonight. The doctor said not to leave you alone." Paige said slightly apologetically. Walter was about to offer his bed but realised that she would only refuse. The two walked upstairs. Paige turned her back and went to lay down on the sofa while Walter got changed and laid down in his bed.

"Goodnight." Walter said slightly awkwardly.

"Night Walter." Was Paige's reply. After about 10 minutes the genius was asleep, and half an hour later Paige followed suit.

-Line Break -

Paige walked down corridor after corridor looking for... someone. The longer she looked the more she forgot what she was doing. Paige stopped in front of a basement door but she didn't know what she was doing there. She could be there for any number of reasons but she just couldn't remember. A scream rang through the door and suddenly Paige remember.

"Walter!" She said out loud as she realised it was him she was looking for. She ran to the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. Another scream pierced the silence.

"WALTER!" Paige yelled through the door. She had to get in, she had to help him, he was like a brother to her, he was family. But she couldn't; not until he opened the door for her. She banged on the door repeatedly trying to get in but no success. She collapsed to the ground unable to stand it any more and curled into a ball. She tried to block out the screams but they wouldn't go away.

"No, no, stop please." She quietly begged.

Paige sat up suddenly on the couch. She wasn't outside a door, she was in the garage.

"It was just a dream." She told herself. She laid back and was about to go to sleep again when another scream pierced the silence; this time very real. Without a moments hesitation she sprung up onto her feet and was by Walters' bed in seconds. He was thrashing around just like earlier. His back arched as he let out another scream. Paige didn't know what do do. The others weren't here to hold Walter down and with his movements he was likely to throw himself on the floor. Paige looked around, for what she did not know, and then she saw it; Walters tie on the floor by the bed. She snatched it off the floor and a moment later was straddling Walter on the bed. Using all the strength she had she grabbed Walters hands and pinned them above his head. After a moment of fumbling she finally had his hands tied and was securing them to the top of his bed. Now he wasn't moving around as much, especially with her in top of him, she held his face like she did earlier and lent down to talk to him.

"Calm down Walter. You're no longer there. You're safe now. He is dead and you are here with me. You're home Walter. Come back to me." She said. Eventually he stopped writhing and screaming. Paige breathed out a sigh of relief and collapsed on Walter, she no longer had the strength to get up and go back to the couch, she had even forgotten Walters hands were tied. She laid down, using Walters chest as a pillow, and fell asleep immediately. She didn't notice that Walter had woken up, or that he was saying her name.

"Paige?" He said, but she had fallen fast asleep. Walter looked up at his hands and then down at Paige's position. Quickly, he realised he must have had a flashback. He had thought it was just a normal dream, he hadn't realised it had shown that much in reality. Walter tugged at his restraints but the wouldn't budge. He tried to shift his weight so that he could get more leverage but couldn't, Paige's dead weight on top of him was too much. Resigned to the fact that he was going to have to spend the rest of the night like this he collapsed into his bed. Once he wasn't struggling it wasn't so bad. Having Paige on top of him was actually kind of nice, they had a brother sister bond which relaxed Walter slightly, it was just the tie uncomfortably pulling at his wrists and digging in that caused his discomfort. Granted, the fabric was a lot nicer than manacles but it still left Walter feeling powerless. Walter closed his eyes and tried to forget about it, letting his exhaustion take him once more.

-line break-

Walter opened his eyes and was momentarily confused. His hands were above his head for some reason and there was something heavy on top of him. Very quickly, memories of the night flooded his brain. He looked down and noticed Paige, still fast asleep, on top of him. He tried to free his hands again but his attempts proved fruitless. Walter laid down and listened for any of the team coming in. It must be time. Walter heard the door open and recognised Happy and Toby's voices.

"I swear Toby..." He heard Happy almost growl.

"Alright, alright." Came Toby's reply. Walter could imagine him raising his arms in mock surrender and walking further into the garage. When Walter guessed he was at the point he could hear him best Walter spoke.

"Toby!" He whisper yelled not wanting to wake up Paige. He kept his voice low as studies had proven that high voices were more likely to wake up sleeping women so they could react to a baby's cry.

"Walt? Walt is that you? Where are you?" He heard Toby said. Unable to help himself, Walter rolled his eyes.

"Just come upstairs, I need some umm help." He said slightly awkwardly but with authority. Walter heard Toby walking up the stairs and the moment he came into his sights he saw Toby laugh, he missed the brief look of jealousy and anger that had flashed across the mans face for a second. Walter gave Toby a look then gestured towards his hands with his chin. Toby stopped laughing but the grin never vanished. He started to walk towards them before he stopped, quickly pulled out his phone, and took a picture of the pair. "You will delete that picture. Now untie me!" Walter said as quietly as he could with a glare at Toby. Surrendering Toby walked over and untied Walter's hands before helping him extricate himself from Paige. Toby left and headed back downstairs, Walter was about to follow but before he did quickly covered Paige with the blanket and tucked her in. Downstairs Toby was showing Happy the picture but Walter ignored them and went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. He had no doubt Toby had sent the picture to the rest of the team, the buzz on his phone a few seconds later confirmed it, so instead decided the best way of getting back at Toby. It was in no means revenge. Revenge was petty and only immature adults and children felt the need to get back at people, Walter viewed it as illogical. That being said, Walter needed a way to punish Toby because his actions... were unprofessional in the workplace. Walter heard the door open and the rest of the team walk in but Walter wasn't too bothered, he just ignored them and continued with what he was doing.

After an hour everyone was settled and had stopped teasing him about the picture, that was until Paige came down looking angry.

"Who sent the picture?" She said sternly looking at Toby. She obviously knew the answer but phrased it as a question anyway. Toby shifted on his feet looking uncomfortable but eventually awkwardly raised his hand in the air not meeting her eyes. She gave him an unimpressed look before walking over to Walter, her expression changing to one of concern. "Are you alright? How are you this morning?"

"Fine..." Walter started but stopped when he saw Paige's, "Tired, I'm a little sore still but honestly, I'm fine." Paige looked at Walter for a seconds before nodding and walking away. Walter sighed before glancing briefly at Toby then continuing what he was doing.


	5. Chapter 5

The next few weeks went on with the same pattern. Every few hours Water would have a flashback and would end up on the ground screaming in agony. All the team could do was move anything that could harm him out of the way and try to pull him out of it, each time with varying degrees of success. It wasn't just the flashbacks though that were making days difficult. At night Walter didn't sleep; he couldn't. He would always end up screaming and writhing in pain. The team took turns watching him so that none of them would get too tired. Toby did Monday, Happy did Tuesday, Sylvester did Wednesday, Paige did Thursday, Cabe did Friday, and the team pulled names out of a hat to decided who would do Saturday and Sunday. They decided that to make it fair, if your name was pulled you didn't have to do it again until everyone had done it. And so it went on, but as days turned into weeks, and week started to turn into months, Walter wasn't getting any better, if anything, he was getting worse. Because he wasn't sleeping at night, he started to fall asleep during work or at the desk or at the wheel of a car, the last being the scariest, and each time he would end up screaming and writhing on the floor. The fatigue caused by the sleepless nights also lead to the flashbacks being worse and more frequent. The whole team were exhausted. They couldn't risk Water going anywhere by himself so the team started finding excuses to be with him, or in the same room as him, or drive for him. Walter new what they were doing but realised arguing was illogical as they would only follow him anyway.

"Ahhh" Walter screamed thrashing around in his bed. The light turned on and the door opened, someone came running in.

"Hey Walt, it's just a dream." The man who came running in said. The man sat down next to Walter on his bed and spoke softly trying to pull Walter out of his nightmare. "You're safe now." The man said and on instinct took hold of Walter's hand and held it gentle but firmly in his own. Toby didn't expect anything to happen, he had read about people who had PTSD like Walter. It never got any better, only worse and eventually it drove them mad. Toby still had hopes for Walter, Walter had to get better, even just thinking about the possibility that he might not pull through gave Toby a feeling of dread, it created a pit in his stomach making him feel sick. Toby kept his gaze fixed on the screaming, writhing man on the bed clutching his hand. Toby would later say it was so that he had some control and could stop Walter from throwing himself off the bed, but he knew better. After a moment Walter stopped screaming and opened his eyes. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were flicking around the room looking for the threat. "You're alright mate. You just had a flashback, a bad dream. I'm here." Walter turned and looked at Toby in a panic flinching away before seeing who it was. The moment it registered in Walter's head he relaxed. He hadn't even noticed he was clinging onto Toby's hand as if his life depended on it. Toby noticed though and held on just as tightly. After a few minutes Walter's breathing evened out and his hand loosened slightly, but he didn't let go.

"Thank you, sorry for..." Walter said but was interrupted by Toby.

"It's okay Walt," Toby said reassuringly.

"Why am I not getting better? I don't understand. I should be." Walter said pushing himself up into a sitting position to look at Toby better.

"Walter, it is different for each individual person. You aim for control in all things, so when you didn't have control it affected you. I don't think it's the.. um, torture that is really haunting you. We can all deal with pain and move on." Toby said looking into Walters eyes. There wasn't much light in the room but there was enough to see clearly; the curtains weren't draw so moonlight and street lights brightened up the room. He could tell that Walter wasn't really listening to what he had to say, he had probably already guessed, he was probably only asking the question because he wanted Toby to stay longer; he just didn't want to say it. Neither of them said anything after that, just looked into each others time. For the second time Walter started to breath slightly heavier, so did Toby, his eye's were dark with dilated pupils and he held onto Toby's hand slightly tighter. After a moment Walter looked away and let go of Toby's hand.

"It would be logical if we tried to sleep for the remainder of the night. I'm sorry for waking you... you could sleep here though if you want. The bed is a lot comfier so you might be able to get a better rest here." Walter said stoically as if it were the only explanation. Toby glanced at the clock to check the time, 1:23pm, it was too early. Recently Walter had been having two flash backs a night, the only time he only had one was when his first flash back was past 4 o'clock. Toby thought for a second, the bed was definitely more comfortable, and when Walter had his second flash back he wouldn't have to come running; he would already be in the same room. Toby nodded, stood up, and walked to the empty side of the bed. Avoiding Walter's gaze, he slipped under the covers and laid down; at some point Walter had laid down too.

"Night Walt," Toby said with his eyes shut, he needed to day something.

"Night Toby," Came Walters reply before they both drifted off to sleep.

The sound of an alarm woke the two boys up. Toby sat up sharply and looked over at Walter who was also sitting up looking back at Toby.

"You only had one nightmare last night," Toby said looking puzzled.

"I know," Was Walters only reply before he got up and got ready leaving Toby still in the bed deep in thought.

-line break-

Toby pondered over this the rest of the day as the team continued with the normal routine. In fact, Toby thought about it for the next week and before he knew it, it was his turn to watch Walter. The team had left several minutes ago leaving Walter alone with Toby. Immediately Toby felt slightly awkward. The two hadn't talked about that night, or why there was a sudden change but never the less they had both been thinking about it.

"I have a theory." Toby said not looking at Walter directly.

"I know, I probably have the same theory. We should..." Walter said droning off giving Toby a look telling him to finish the sentence.

"Test the theory and sleep in the same bed." Toby said quickly then looked at Walter. They stood there for a minute looking at each other awkwardly before walking briskly to the bedroom to the sides of the bed they had slept in before. They both got ready in silence before climbing into bed and lying down.

"Night Walt," Toby said gently.

"Night Toby."

Neither Toby or Walter remembered falling asleep, only shutting their eyes. When the alarm went off in the morning they both sat up in shock and looked at each other.

"I... um guess our theory was correct." Toby said looking down at the covers.

"But we would have to test it again to be sure," Walter added before getting up and getting dressed. Toby followed suit and a few minutes later they were downstairs. Toby was so deep in thought about it that he hadn't notice the rest of the team walk in.

"You actually look well rested," Paige said in shock looking from Toby to Walter.

"I wouldn't possibly know why." Walter said before sitting at his computer. Paige turned to Toby giving him a look.

"Don't look at me. I know nothing." He said before walking away.

The day went on as normal, the only difference being that Walter only had one flashback and that was at lunchtime. Toby pondered this throughout the rest of the day. Why would him sleeping with Walter make a difference. Sure, they had gotten really close lately, even before the accident, and now he was having some strange feelings towards Walter but surely they weren't recipricated. Before everyone was due to go home, Toby pulled Walter aside.

"I think we need to... um... test our theory again. Just to make sure." Walter nodded. "Okay, I will wait until everyone leaves before speaking to Happy. Only she will know, if we wake up tomorrow with the same results then we will tell everyone else."

"That sounds logical," Walter said shifting from one foot to another before walking off. Toby stood there for a minute feeling decidedly uncomfortable. He had been thinking about the phenomenon all day, why would sleeping with him make any difference, was it only him, if someone else slept in the same bed as Walter would they get the same results. Toby dismissed the idea. Paige had slept with Walter most nights and it hadn't made a difference. Did it mean that Toby's feelings were perhaps reciprocated. Toby had come to think about his strange bouts of jealousy and could only conclude that at some point, he had fallen in love with Walter. He never imagined that Walter would feel the same. Walter may not even understand what he was feeling, but if the lack of nightmares suggested anything. It suggested that Walter felt safe sleeping with Toby. This kind of thing wasn't to be unexpected, Toby had been there for Walter right the way through the torture, it is only natural he would form some kind of superficial attachment. But then there were the other circumstances to consider, that moment they had shared the other week. Toby pushed the thoughts from his mind when he heard Happy calling him.

"Hey, everyone else has left. You gonna head home too?" Happy asked casually from her current project.

"About that, I need to speak to you about something." And so, Toby explained the situation to Happy and sooner than Toby anticipated, he was left alone with Walter. When the time came to sleep they both headed up to the bedroom and undressed. There was only one way for Toby to test his theory. Once they were both lying in bed, Toby turned to Walter.

"Walt, um... I have a theory to test." Walter, looking interested, sat up and looked at Toby.

"What theory? Wasn't this..." Toby cut Walter off by sitting up and capturing his lips with his own. He heard Walter's intake of breath but didn't let that deter him. Encouraged by Walter's lack of resistance, he leaned more into the kiss and reached around to grab Walters hair. This time, Walter returned the gesture. Toby felt hands on his back as Walter returned the kiss eagerly. Toby was right, they did have feelings for each other. The kiss continued for several minutes with Toby leading before Walter took control. This was exactly what Walter needed, he needed to be in control, and Toby was going to give it to him. Walter pushed Toby down onto his back and Toby felt hands near his briefs. Eagerly, Toby pulled them off and tugged at Walters. Soon they were both naked, nothing separated them. Toby reached over the bed and groped for his pants, he needed this to continue, but he needed lube. His hand found the small bottle in one of his pockets before he brought it onto the bed. Walter took no time in taking it off him, placing a pillow under Toby's hips to raise them, and squirting some of the liquid onto his hand. Toby felt the cool liquid by his hole and opened his legs wider. Slowly, very slowly, a finger entered, moving, until it was fully inside him. Toby was no stranger to the feeling, but it was still slightly painful, it didn't take long for the pain to fade and Walter to add another finger. Walter moved his fingers expertly, and even though Toby was the Doctor, not Walter, he found the prostate with seconds. Toby through his head back and let out a strangled moan.

Sooner than Toby would have liked, Walter finished prepping him and had positioned himself by Toby's entrance. Toby watched Walter's face as the genius pushed forward. It was painful, but not uncomfortably so, and soon Walter was fully sheathed.

"Move," Toby pleaded. Not one to complain, Walter pulled out and back in again hard, hitting Toby's prostate. Toby through his head back and screamed with pleasure as Walter repeatedly slammed into that one spot over and over and over again. "Fuck!" Toby yelled.

"I think you will find that I am." Walter replied out of breath. Sometimes, Walter's pedantic responses were hilarious.

"Well, do it harder," Toby said with a laugh. Walter complied. Toby felt himself reaching his climax but didn't have time to say anything before he came, yelling. He clenched around Walter's dick and felt the man come as well with a strangled yell before collapsing beside him. Neither of them said anything for a while but when they finally did speak, it was Walter who broke the silence.

"So, what exactly was your theory? Did your results concur with your hypothesis?" Walter asked turning to face Toby who laughed.

"My theory, was that we both are in love with each other" He left the part about the results out though, he guessed Walter would extrapolate.

"I have found myself having... confusing feelings of late. I think I am starting to understand them." Walter said in his contemplative voice.

"Well Walt, think about it in the morning. I'm going to sleep now. We can clean up in the morning." And with that, Toby promptly fell asleep. Walter watched Toby for a few minutes before getting up, grabbing some tissues off the side, and cleaning them both up quickly before lying down and promptly falling asleep too.

They both slept through the night.

The next day they told the team what they had discovered. Their reactions ranged from shock to disbelief but they accepted it and congratulated them.

Walter still had the occasional flashback and nightmare but for them most part, he was okay.

 **I know the ending is a bit abrupt but I was getting bored, sue me. I thought it best just to wrap it up so I can move on. Thanks for reading. Constructive criticism is welcome although please bear in mind that if you read this and decide it was awful, I wrote this ages ago (even though this is the only thing I've published, I've written a lot more but they are incomplete) and my writing has come a long way since I wrote this and I don't feel like changing it. It would take too long and recently I've gone off the show, not gonna do something I don't want to do. Thanks.**


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